Moon Viewing Noodles

Though the weather is still warm and sunny, Autumn officially began on 22 September.
Rosh Hashanah will start on Monday night, and of course we will have some special foods to celebrate the New Year: carrots, honey, apples, sweet potatoes, and challah.
Though I missed it this year, in Japan, Tsukimi is a festival honoring the first full moon of Autumn. Round white dumplings filled with sweet beans, satoimo, and eggs are popular foods for the holiday. Apparently McDonald’s even sells
tsukimi burgers with fried eggs. Tsukimi udon feature
a whole egg in a dish of noodles, reminding
the diner of a full moon surrounded by clouds.

I used a recipe in my book as a guide to
making my own “moon-viewing noodles.” The
original recipe—oyako udon—is a bowl of
noodles topped with chicken and an egg;
oyako means “parents and children”and
the chicken is clearly the parent of the egg.

Jewish dietary laws prohibit “cooking a kid in its mother’s milk,
but it is fine to eat chicken and eggs.
Contemplating the moon sounds so much more serene.
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In a large pot of boiling water, cook the noodles al dente, about 4 to 6 minutes. Drain in a colander, and rinse them under cold running water, rubbing them between your hands until they are cold and no longer starchy on the outside. Set them aside to drain.
In a medium pot, bring the broth to a boil over medium heat. Add the chicken and white parts of the scallions, and cook until the chicken is done, about 5 minutes.
Add the cooked noodles to the broth, and bring the broth to a boil.
Ms. Shimbo instructs the cook to add the eggs to the pot and cook partially covered for about 1 minute. Divide noodles among the bowls, top with chicken and onions, and pour the hot broth/egg mixture into each bowl.

I served the noodles and broth into bowls, added an egg to each. I covered the bowls with foil and put them in the oven for a couple of minutes to lightly cook them.

Garnish each bowl with the green onion rings and sprinkle with seven-spice powder.

Hot Udon Noodles
with Chicken and Egg
Oyako Udon
serves 4
page 328

• 1 pound dried udon
• 4 cups kakejiru
  (broth for hot noodles)
• 1 boned and skinned chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes (omit for moon noodles)
• 4 whole scallions, the white parts cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths, the green into thin rings
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten (don’t beat them for moon noodles!)
• Shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice powder)

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Other Noodle Recipes from Tess

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